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2008 New Cambria National Song Contest Semi-Finals
This article is about the semifinals of the 2008 National Song Contest. For the final, see the main article: 2008 New Cambria National Song Contest. The Semi-Finals for the 2008 New Cambria National Song Contest began on 1 November 2008. Of the 24 songs chosen to compete in the four Semi-Finals, a total of ten qualified for the Grand Final on 6 December. This is the second year in which the contest is a six-week event. Format In the four Semi-Final rounds, a panel of eight jurors will rank each song, and award them 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 points, with the favourite receiving 10 points. The jury will include: * One television production professional; * One music production professional; * Two singers, one professional and one amateur; * Two songwriters, one professional and one amateur; and * Two fans, chosen from a lottery held by NCT. The telephone and SMS votes will be totaled and assigned the weight of 12 individual juror's votes. The songs will receive 12, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 points, with the highest-ranking song receiving 120 points. Semi-Final One The first Semi-Final round was held on 1 November, from the John Cabot Concert Hall in The Settlement, Cavit Island. Rehearsals for the Semi-Final were held between 29-31 October. A fire in the backstage area of the concert hall caused a brief evacuation of the venue on 30 October. A stagehand sprained a wrist trying to extinguish the fire, but no one suffered any serious injuries, and the rehearsals resumed two hours later. The Semi-Final's co-presenters were Christopher Bear and Claire McLean, and popular Canadian rock band Faber Drive performed as the interval act between the voting period and the announcement of the results. One of the qualifiers, Douar Nevez, is unique among Song Contest entries in that its lyrics are in Breton, a Celtic language spoken in the Brittany region of France. It was the first time a Song Contest entry was not performed in English, French or Keva. Le Temps Perdu received the highest score from the jurors, but only the third-highest score from the viewing audience, relegating the song to the Wild Card Semi-Final. The jury for the first Semi-Final was confirmed on 28 October 2008. The eight-member panel consisted of: * Juror 1: Michael Dugan, Assistant Director of Entertainment Programming for NCT; * Juror 2: Alicia Toussaint, former record producer and editor of SoundOut, an Arvant-based music magazine; * Juror 3: Derek Howard, professional pop singer originally from Vianney, now based in Los Angeles; * Juror 4: Jon Clark, amateur folk/acoustic musician from Arvant; * Juror 5: Maria Westerly, Canadian country-western songwriter, now retired and living in New Cambria; * Juror 6: Amanda Young, Averytown-based singer-songwriter; * Juror 7: Marcus Reeves, accountant from Arvant and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery; and * Juror 8: Carolyn Phillips, primary schoolteacher from Milindour and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery. Results Semi-Final Two The second Semi-Final round was broadcast at 8:00pm on 8 November, from the Southport Exhibition Centre in Southport, Cape Bangor County. Rehearsals for the event were held between 5-7 November. The co-presenters were Kenneth Bowden and Jelena Jakupović, and the NCPB Concert Orchestra along with multi-intstrumentalist and vocalist Kelly Lambert performed as the interval act. Lambert also served on the jury panel. The second Semi-Final was the only Semi-Final round in the 2008 contest to feature only English-language songs. According to bookmakers, the most likely song to qualify for the Grand Final was Three Wishes, while You Are My Only One was predicted to come in last place by a wide margin. When the final results were counted, the bookmakers' predictions were correct. The jury for the second Semi-Final was confirmed on 28 October 2008. The eight-member panel consisted of: * Juror 1: Michael Dugan, Assistant Director of Entertainment Programming for NCT; * Juror 2: Alicia Toussaint, former record producer and editor of SoundOut, an Arvant-based music magazine; * Juror 3: Kelly Lambert, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, and performer of the event's interval act; * Juror 4: Kevin Killian, lead singer of Newfoundland-based rock band Velocity; * Juror 5: Maria Westerly, Canadian country-western songwriter, now retired and living in New Cambria; * Juror 6: Brian Babin, French-language musician and songwriter from St. Saviour; * Juror 7: Erin Bainbridge, ER nurse and paramedic from Arvant and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery; and * Juror 8: Drake Donovan, police officer from Southport and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery. Results Semi-Final Three The third Semi-Final round was broadcast at 8:00pm on 15 November, from the Treetop Theatre in Talbot, St. David's County. Christopher Bear and Claire McLean hosted the event, and internationally-renowned dance/percussion group STOMP performed as the interval act. Rehearsals for the Semi-Final were held 12-14 November, and free tickets to the dress rehearsal on 14 November were offered to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. The jury for the third Semi-Final was confirmed on 28 October 2008. The eight-member panel consisted of: * Juror 1: Michael Dugan, Assistant Director of Entertainment Programming for NCT; * Juror 2: Alicia Toussaint, former record producer and editor of SoundOut, an Arvant-based music magazine; * Juror 3: Jenny Haberman, lead vocalist of Southport-based punk/rock band Limit; * Juror 4: Dave Oliver, New Cambria-born songwriter, now living and working in Chicago; * Juror 5: Maria Westerly, Canadian country-western songwriter, now retired and living in New Cambria; * Juror 6: Brian Babin, French-language musician and songwriter from St. Saviour; * Juror 7: Mick Warren, university student from Arvant and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery; and * Juror 8: Cora Harper, housewife from Ardon, Cavit Island, and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery. Results Semi-Final Four The fourth Semi-Final round was held 8:00pm on 22 November, from the Circle Centre in Tain, North-West County. Christopher Bear and Jelena Jakupović hosted the event, and a comedy film parodying the contest, entitled Top of the Bottom, was screened as the interval act. Rehearsals for the Semi-Final were held from 20-21 November, with a final dress rehearsal on the afternoon of the 22nd. During the live show, the Circle Centre's sound system experienced an overload during James Howe's performance of "What I Want From You." While the audience in the Circle Centre were unable to hear the last 56 seconds of the performance, the television and radio broadcasts carried the audio track without disruption. Because the event was held in North-West County, where the majority of New Cambria's Keva population live, co-presenters Christopher Bear and Jelena Jakupović spoke in Hēvat, the language of the Keva people, in addition to English and French, during their coverage of the Semi-Final. The jury for the third Semi-Final was confirmed on 28 October 2008. The eight-member panel will consist of: * Juror 1: Michael Dugan, Assistant Director of Entertainment Programming for NCT; * Juror 2: Alicia Toussaint, former record producer and editor of SoundOut, an Arvant-based music magazine; * Juror 3: Jenny Haberman, lead vocalist of Southport-based punk/rock band Limit; * Juror 4: Bradley Freed, Actor, comedian and musician from The Settlement; * Juror 5: Maria Westerly, Canadian country-western songwriter, now retired and living in New Cambria; * Juror 6: Kevin Cross, American pop-music songwriter; * Juror 7: Eve Cantor, bank teller from Talbot and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery; and * Juror 8: Andy Dorr, restaurant chef from New Calvary and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery. Results Wild Card Semi-Final The Wild Card Semi-Final was broadcast at 8:00pm on 29 November, from the Averytown Municipal Forum in Averytown, Avery County. Brad Nivens and Sarah Stanhope hosted the event, and the interval act was performed by a troupe of Keva folk dancers, performing a piece entitled "Night of a Thousand Days." In the Wild Card Semi-Final, the eight-member jury panel ranked the songs, and awarded them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 points, with the favourite receiving 10 points. The telephone and SMS votes were totaled and assigned the weight of 12 individual juror's votes. The songs received 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 96 and 120 points, with the highest-ranking song receiving 120 points. In order to ensure the results are as fair as possible, and to guard against tactical voting, no person who has served as a juror in any of the Semi-Final rounds was allowed to sit on the Wild Card's jury panel. The jury for the second Semi-Final was confirmed on 28 October 2008. The eight-member panel consisted of: * Juror 1: Travis Egan, NCT entertainment correspondent and co-presenter of the 2004 National Song Contest; * Juror 2: David Blythe, executive director of New Cambria Radio's music programming department; * Juror 3: Ellie McGonagle, mezzo-soprano from NCPB's Philharmonic Choir; * Juror 4: Charity Ennis, amateur singer and host of New Cambria Radio's late-night music program SoundScapes; * Juror 5: Jake Dunne, musician, songwriter, and music professor from the University of New Cambria; * Juror 6: Stella North, St. Saviour-based singer-songwriter; * Juror 7: Grace Reeves, university student from Southport and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery; and * Juror 8: Jack Jennings, geologist from Arvant and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery. Results Category:New Cambria Category:Events